By Jim Shilander
Officials at Southern California Edison said during an investor conference call Thursday that the company had incurred approximately $221 million in net market costs related to the outages at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, as well as $96 million in inspection and repair costs.
The utility is intending to seek reimbursement from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which manufactured the steam generators at both units, including the damaged unit 3. The company is also seeking to receive some money back from insurance.
Southern California Edison President Ron Litzinger said the company’s interactions with Mitsubishi have largely focused on technical issues related to the steam generators, and not on how the companies would come to a decision on a financial settlement. Edison submitted a $45 million invoice for costs incurred to Mitsubishi June 30.
“The focus has been on safety and the technical side, and less on the financial side,” Litzinger told investors.
Mitsubishi has a liability limit of $138 million, but that excludes the cost of “consequential damages,” such as replacement power.
The utility’s insurance company, Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited, has been reimbursing Edison at $3.5 million per week, per unit, meaning $7 million per week, since the outage. The liability limit for the insurance company is $2.75 billion.
